Crucial MX500 1TB M.2. SSD review - Introduction

Name: Crucial MX500 1TB M.2. SSD review
Brand: crucial mx500

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 05/09/2018 11:16 AM [

] 8 comment(s)

Crucial MX500 1024 GB m.2.SSD
A budget SSD at 23 cents per GB on the m.2. form factor

Crucial recently announced their new MX500 series 2.5" SSDs. But did you know that the MX500 series are available as M.2. models as well? These storage units scream value for money as you can purchase a 1TB model for €0,23 per GB. Now, the downside is that these units will remain at the same performance level as your average SATA3 SSDas well, this is intended for the budget slash value side of the market, but hey, any SSD in this class is fast enough for what it needs to be, and at that price, this unit is effective for your money. We review the new 1 TB model, at € 231,- this SSD series is among the most price-competitive M.2. SSDs available currently on the market, however, with up-to high-end class SATA3 (500 MB/sec) performance.

SKU: CT1000MX500SSD4
Brand: Crucial
Form Factor: M.2 Type 2280
Total Capacity: 1TB
Warranty: Limited 5-year
Specs: M.2/NGFF (2280) Single Sided • 560MB/s Read, 510MB/s Write
Series: MX500
Product Line: Client SSD
Interface: SATA 6.0Gb/s

The differences between the 'regular' 2.5" SSD and the m.2. series really aren't that different, aside from form factor and interface. The MX500 m.2. is available in three models, a 250GB, 500GB and 1TB version. For the regular 2.5" SSD there also is a 2TB version available. The MX500 uses Microns own TLC NAND, the new 64-layer vertical stacked version with a bit of DRAM cache and. Our tested MX500 1TB SSD is advertised at proper SATA3 SSD performance metrics with 560MB/s for sequential read and 510MB/s on sequential writes. Random 4K IOPS show numbers in the ~90 for both random read and write IOPS. Crucial basically offers two performance and price positioned series, MX and the slightly, lower positioned (affordable upgrade) BX series. The MX500 series what I label as absolute value storage, it is very price-competitive compared to mainstream to high-end class SATA3 performance. You guys likely know it, I've been in the computer industry a LONG time and have noticed that two developments evolve in very fast paces, graphics cards, and storage technology. If you look how far and fast we've become with NAND technology you can only acknowledge, it is just amazing. My first HDD storage unit was connected towards a Commodore 64, back in 1984 (!), that unit was SCSI based and could hold a whopping 10 MB of data, it did that (if memory serves me right) at roughly 40 KB/sec in read performance which honestly was blazingly fast at that time and cost me something in the extent and equivalent of 500 USD / EURO. And yes, here we are in an era where NVMe SSDs reaches 3 GB/sec and SSDs having storage capacities of 2 Terabyte priced at that same level as that Commodore 64 storage unit back in the days. It is these trends that drive SSD storage to the high-level momentum in evolution as we see today: endurance, performance, price, and capacity. The MX500 series covers all these metrics.

NAND flash memory (the storage memory used inside an SSD) has become cheaper thanks to the new 64-layer fabrication. Prices a few years ago settled at just under 1 USD per GB. These days a fast NVMe SSD can be found under 50 cents per GB. With parties like Samsung, Toshiba, and Micron the prices have now dropped towards and below the 30 cents per GB marker for SATA3 TLC based units. This means that SSD technology and NAND storage have gone mainstream and due to the lower prices, the volume sizes go up as well. A couple of years ago a 64 GB SSD was hot stuff, then slowly we moved to 120 GB, last year 240 GB for an SSD in a PC was the norm, this upcoming year we'll transition slowly to roughly 500 GB and 1 TB per SSD as the norm with sub prices for TLC NAND in the 25 Cents per GB range. With the market being so competitive, it brought us to where we are today. Proper volume SSDs at acceptable prices with very fast performance. Not one test system in my lab has an HDD anymore, everything runs on some form of NAND storage, while I receive and retrieve my bigger chunks of data from a NAS server here in the office. The benefits are performance, speed, low power consumption, no noise and very good reliability.

Micron (the mother company behind Crucial) recently announced the MX500 series in capacities of 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1 TB for both the m.2. and 2.5" form factors, as well as a 2 TB version on 2.5", these drives, are fitted with that new 64-layer vertically stacked NAND (also referred to as 3D NAND). It is paired towards a Silicon Motion SM2258 controller. Crucial guarantees this SSD for 5 years under warranty and/or a 360 TB (terabytes) written (TBW) for a 1 TB model. Have a peek and then let's head onwards into the review.

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